New details have emerged about child grooming allegations against left-wing former ACT attorney-general and Labor MP Gordon Ramsay, who was arrested in Canberra late last year and is out on bail after pleading not guilty.
Documents from the ACT Magistrates Court were suppressed after Mr Ramsay, 61, was charged with one count of encouraging a young person to commit an act of a sexual nature, but on Friday ABC News successfully requested access to a heavily redacted statement of facts.
The newly released documents allege that in January 2022 Mr Ramsay contacted his teenage male alleged victim via Instagram, and the pair then began to regularly meet for dinner at steakhouses and go to the theatre, The Canberra Times reported.
Mr Ramsay sent the boy daily messages, gave him small bottles of alcohol to consume, began suggesting his alleged victim send him “sexualised content”, and bought him sex toys, underwear and lingerie, the statement of facts alleges.
The former attorney-general is accused of giving the boy condoms and lubricant, and in October 2022 allegedly gifted the boy gel and a sex toy, which he rescinded when his alleged victim “freaked out”, the documents state.
In March 2023 he allegedly suggested the boy send him “SPUN” images – meaning “shirts, trousers, underwear nothing” – which he said was to help the teen with “body confidence” and should be taken and uploaded daily.
In July 2024 Mr Ramsay allegedly asked his alleged victim to kiss him, and told him he only meant on the forehead after the boy began to “freak out”, and the following month allegedly bought the boy several sex toys, and asked him to provide more sexualised SPUN photos, the documents allege.
The court documents also allege the boy’s family had become concerned about how much time he was spending with Mr Ramsay, and that Mr Ramsay’s wife found out about a shared drive where the SPUN images were uploaded.
Police received a report about the alleged grooming in September, began an investigation, and recorded Mr Ramsay allegedly talking to the boy on the phone and encouraging him to take more SPUN photographs to “continue building his confidence.
Mr Ramsay, an ordained Uniting Church Minister, was Labor Member of the Legislative Assembly for Ginninderra between 2016 and 2020, and served as attorney-general until losing his seat.
He was then appointed CEO of the Cultural Facilities Corporation in 2021, overseeing the the Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Museum and Gallery, and the development of the new Lyric Theatre.
His lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith entered a not guilty plea on his client’s behalf in October, and warned the court problems could arise because a number of court staff, including several magistrates and judges, had been appointed by Mr Ramsay while he was attorney-general.
Mr Ramsay was bail with conditions including not contacting the alleged victim, not leaving the ACT, not contacting or being in the company of anyone under the age of 25, and not using or accessing encrypted messaging apps.
In 2020 Mr Ramsay cried in parliament after the ACT passed a law he championed banning homosexual “conversion therapy”. He also introduced a bill forcing all adults to report child sex abuse, requiring priests to break the confessional seal.
Mr Ramsay made numerous posts on X signalling support for left-wing causes, including in support of “Wear it Purple Day”, Diwali, Kamala Harris, “believing women”, and aboriginal land claims.
He also shared news stories about a homosexual high school captain, a religious discrimination bill and “transgender” people and homosexual “marriages”, boasted about getting vaccinated against Covid-19, and shared photos of himself appearing to officiate a homosexual “marriage” while wearing a rainbow scarf.
Header image: Left, right, Gordon Ramsay (X).
